Service-specific Mobile Network Virtualization Technologies

For the purpose of solving the problems of the currently used Internet and implementing the New-Generation Network that is expected to be a future social infrastructure, research and development activities on network virtualization technologies have been conducted. Network virtualization technologies are expected to be the base technologies for the New-Generation Network because the technologies will enable the provision, on a single physical network, of different network services which have their own requirements, such as transmission speed, reliability or the volume of connected user-terminals. Furthermore, if the current situation, where mobile communication networks (hereinafter referred to as “mobile networks”) have been used widely, is taken into consideration, the New-Generation Network, in order to become a reliable social infrastructure that supports social systems whether in a normal or emergency situation, must be capable of integrating mobile networks and configuring them virtually. On the other hand, mobile-network operators have come to share the view that network virtualization technologies will be one of the keys to the realization of 5G systems, where the additional requirements such as ultra-low latency or a huge number of connections must be satisfied. Network virtualization technologies will enable the provision of ultra-low-latency services through configuring the “slices” in the neighborhood of a terminal. In addition, the reduction of the total network load will be enabled, by configuring such slices that consist of a number of necessary functional units which can conduct servicespecific, instead of service-independent, controls. In the following portions of this paper, base technologies for applying virtualization technologies to mobile networks (hereinafter referred to as “mobile-network virtualization”) will be described. First, the gateway function—indispensable for realizing mobile-network virtualization—is introduced. Next, a proof-of-concept prototype experiment, which has proved the possibility of reducing processing load in a mobile network, is introduced. Then, a scalable information sharing method among a number of gateway functions will be proposed, and its validity is shown.